In a message dated 2/22/06 12:40:29 AM GMT Standard Time, sstanger@sfu.ca writes: > Children in the nineteenth-century were also subjected to the opium > problem. Parents with teething children, mostly poor parents, used > opium-based cures for the pain. According to the parliamentary > papers, item 38, reports that deaths by poison, between the years > 1836-1839 numbered more than 30 (11). These are the deaths that are > directly related to the ingestion of opium, as opposed to some > children's prolonged use and subsequent death by starvation due to > lack of food ,Snip> > Gosh, Stella, that is pretty awful! I cant imagine parents or country GPs & pharmacists would have access to opium out here in the sticks in Bedfordshire...and the poor wouldnt have been able to aford it. However, it is certainly something to consider when one sees a child's death attributed to 'teething'? cathy